1 PETER 2:21-25 – For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
THEME OF THE DAY: OVERCOMING THE SIN OF COMPLAINING. The late Jerry Bridges was a prolific writer. I cannot recommend strongly enough every book he wrote. The list is long, but at least read a few for your edification and spiritual growth. Here are five I hope will make it into your library and life – The Pursuit of Holiness, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love, Trusting God Even When Life Hurts, The Joy of Fearing God, and Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate. It is the last one we are tying to today’s nugget theme.
In Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate, Bridges puts these into his book as chapter headings – Ungodliness, Anxiety and Frustration, Discontentment, Unthankfulness, Pride, Selfishness, Lack of Self-Control, Impatience and Irritability, Anger, The Weeds of Anger, Judgmentalism, Envy, Jealousy, Sins of the Tongue and Worldliness. I kept looking for the sin of complaining but didn’t find it. Then it hit me! It is present in all. It relates to each of these tolerated sins. Take time and go through the list, or better yet, buy the book, and as we evaluate our own lives, we will easily see how the tolerated sin of complaining finds its way into each one listed by Bridges. However, today, I want to pull the sin of complaining out and let it stand on its own as an easily, if not one of the most easily, tolerated sins in the lives of Christians. We look first at just how bad this sin is before a watching God and then the power to overcome it.
When it comes to the tolerated sin of complaining, to complain about anything or anyone is a sign of spiritual immaturity, the presence of pride, an act of selfishness, and committing the sin of rebellion against God thinking we deserve better circumstances, better treatment, and all the while forgetting before Him what we truly deserve. Quite serious, isn’t it? So, what might we do, beginning in our thinking because that is where all Christian living begins, to consistently slay the sin of complaining? Today’s scripture.
As the inevitable temptation to complain comes upon us, no matter the issue, stop and take our minds off what is tempting us to complain and fix them on the sufferings of Christ. In our minds’ eyes and by faith, go to the cross, kneel and look up at His Body on the tree. Stare into His blood-soaked face. Hear Him agonizing for breath. Look at His wounds from the scourging. Then quietly listen as His first words are whispered, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” No one will be able to complain about anything or anyone when we are gripped with what Jesus suffered and endured for us. In fact, linger long at the foot of Christ’s cross, and we will quickly find ourselves confessing and repenting from the sin of complaining. It is at the cross of Jesus we find the reason and power for overcoming the sin of complaining.
PRAYER: “Father, forgive me when I focus on myself and life’s difficulties, and not my Lord and His sufferings for me.”
QUOTE: “To complain about anything or anyone is a sign of spiritual immaturity and committing the sin of selfishness.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim